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NaNoEdMo for ROW80, and the Page 77 Meme

I've completed the on-screen edits for Druid's Moon, but fallen behind in everything else. There are a few threads on the Forum I need to catch up on, and so many other blogs I'd like to visit and fellow bloggers I'd like to congratulate, like Laurel Garver, who's releasing a poetry collection!

Also, the next couple of weekends are going to be busy with family events, which sort of puts a dent in my editing-all-day Saturdays and Sundays.

So I have to decide, for once and for all, what I am going to fix this month. Just look at how many projects I have, all in varying degrees of completion:

Druid's Moon, contemporary paranormal romance novella, needs a round of paper edits, and limited researchRome, Rhymes and Risk, historical romance novel, needs a round of on-screen edits, then paper edits, and more researchCaptive of the Sea, historical romance novel, needs to be typed up! Followed by edits and research
plot bunny, historical mystery short story, needs a title! Followed by on-screen editsEyes of the Sky, contemporary vignette, needs a round of paper editsOut of the Water, historical romance novel, needs a light touch on the first few pages and then further submissions to agentsJust When You're Thinking Things Over, contemporary vignette, needs to be submitted somewhereHe Ain't Heavy, historical short story, needs a light touch, and then to be submitted somewhereThe Face of A Lion - I received my blue pencil comments! This historical Middle Grade novel needs a lot of further editing before I submit it to agents

This isn't counting all the other brewing/percolating ideas, or any of the other items on the To Do List of Life...

The best thing now, probably, is to not lose momentum on Druid's Moon. I'll read as much as I can during the week and even on weekends, and hope (!) to have it finalised by the end of the month, ready for betas.

I was collating some of my research and craft notes last week and came up with a list of tough questions I need to answer, all about my characters' motivations, the villain's intentions, and also: how can a Kraken stay alive for 2000 years?

Meanwhile, since Fred and Lyne of Druid's Moon are always in my thoughts... I took a couple of short tests the other day on the BBC Science site, and during one came across this photo - all thoughts of the test forgotten, I immediately took a screen shot. She looks like Lyne!

While I'm in novel-dwelling-on mode, here's a meme for us to share!

"Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to go to page 77 in your current WIP and post 7 lines."

Here's mine; I included a few lines before the actual page 77 lines, to give you a bit of context for what's happening:

Lyne was shaken, suddenly and violently, and opened her eyes to find the Beast wrestling with the tentacle that had hold of her. He gripped it in his massive jaw, tossing his head from side to side, and rocking Lyne with the force of it, as the tentacle refused to release her leg.The nearest stable thing was the Beast himself, and Lyne clutched at his shoulder to keep from tipping into the water. She dug her fingers into his fur and regained her balance. But then the Beast rose up, tore the tentacle off her with teeth and paws, and she was flung backward onto the grass near her bike. She rolled over and sat up, in time to see a second tentacle shoot up from the sea.

Will she escape? Or will the Beast turn on her, along with the owner of the tentacles? Ah, the mysteries...

Please share your page 77s!

How many projects are you in the middle of?

And... if you're looking for book recommendations, the Word Wenches are here to help!

I just love being busy, don't you? Don't be overwhelmed, just be happy that you're so immersed in the world of writing. I know there's people who stick to one project at a time, but obviously there's plenty of us who like to multi-task in every way, including our writing. Having family things and visitors tears a strip out of our time, but it'd be a boring world if we had no family and friends, so give it your best shot.I'm concentrating on finishing my Fiji novel now. Nearly ready to send off to a publisher! Woo hoo!Then the nail biting begins.

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Today's question is: How do you find the time to write in your busy day?

The short answer is, I don't!

The long answer is, that when I'm drafting a new story, there's no question about finding time. Time just magically appears. I stay up late writing, and don't feel unrested. I scribble on napkins. I write notes to myself on my phone. I avoid social media because, hello!, there are characters to discover and exciting events happening. I hear conversations in my head while walking. Every image I see reminds me of the characters...

Then the story is done. It needs typing up, most of the time, from notebooks. That's okay, too. There's time in the morning if I get in to work early. There's time during the baby's nap. Slowly the crumpled already-typed pages pile up. Minor edits are done and missing scenes have been written.

And then there's a complete draft in Scrivener. Time to print and start editing!

have been very lucky this week. In between a very busy time at work
(yes, that's my sneaky way of apologising for how far behind I've gotten in replying to blog comments and visiting all of you!),
I've read not just one or two, but four really good books.

I'm not sure if my mini-reviews do justice to the books I like to showcase. For a writer, I have a hard time describing why certain books touch me the way they do. It might be because, nine times out of ten, I'm very deliberate in choosing the books I read. Looking at the list at the bottom of this blog, it might not seem that way, but I do tend to lean towards certain authors, and don't willingly read many new or modern writers. Which is why I have a hard time with reviews -- I'd give five stars only to real classics, and so everything else I read is either brilliant, and I want to give it five stars, but I'm not yet sure if it's a classic, or it's good but didn't knock my socks off, and …

Before that, a quick ROW80 update from me -- we're nearing the end of this year's round 3, and in true ROW80 style, I'm revamping my goals for this current round and the next. No, I haven't finished edits at all. I'm hoping that after this year's NaNoWriMo, when the writing is in full swing once more, I'll have the motivation for edits.

Until then, I've suddenly got three new knitting projects! I'm not doing too badly with unfinished objects (UFOs!) -- I only have two at the moment. One will likely never get done, while the other is easy, and will hopefully fall into the knitting I'll be doing on the new projects. I expect all this to take up either my weekend reading time or my commute reading time. On the other hand, I'm actually starting to read regularly on the Kindle app on my phone, which means more reading time at night after baby falls asleep (in the same room) -- and yet this completel…

Weblog title from JRR Tolkien

"Melian - a Maia, who left Valinor and came to Middle-earth; afterwards the Queen of King Thingol in Doriath, about which she set a girdle of enchantment, the Girdle of Melian; mother of Luthien, and foremother of Elrond and Elros."

Blog Posts To Come

Mini-essay: Persuasion, A Tale of Two Cities, Britannia Mews and After London - 3 from 19th C, one that takes place in 19th C (written in the 1940s). All four have similar styles but oh! their methods of execution are so different! Easy to see how Austen and Dickens have stood the test of time

Campaign Challenge 2011

THE GIRDLE OF MELIAN

Author; historical romance Out of the Water out on queries! Now prepping contemporary paranormal romance for querying... Happy writing!

Word Counts

The Charm of Time: research and editing
Druid's Moon: editing final (?) draft
Larksong: editing first draft
Out of the Water: editing final tweaks
Captive of the Sea & Rome, Rhymes, and Risk: editing
Peter and Penelope: seeking a title... Need to type it!
Mystery at Bertram's Hotel: first draft
The Face of A Lion: editing nth draft